Main Index > Songs By Date > 1968 > This Is My Life
 
This Is My Life (La Vita)
Album 1968: United Artists UAS 6675. French Re-Issue: Sunset SLS 50297F


The songs of this album have been re-released completely digitally remastered on the CD Shirley Bassey - The Collection.
 

Cover Images


Cover Images: T. Timoleon
 
Track Listing

Side A
01. 2:55 - Now You Want To Be Loved
02. 2:53 - Goin' Out Of My Head / You Go To My Head (Medley)
03. 2:27 - Softly As I Leave You
04. 1:55 - A Time For Us
05. 2:25 - The Joker
06. 2:40 - I Must Know

Side B
01. 3:07 - This Is My Life (La Vita)
02. 2:37 - Who Am I?
03. 2:23 - Funny Girl
04. 2:42 - Sunny
05. 2:54 - I've Been Loved
06. 2:39 - Where Is Tomorrow?
 
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Sleeve Note

As she steps on stage and glides to the microphone the audience is immediately drawn to her in "moth to flame" fashion. She is dressed in a gown so dazzling that it seems to illuminate the entire room. In the background a group of musicians blend their collective talents into a song introduction. The audience leans forward, ever so slightly, and then the beautiful lady at the microphone begins to sing ...

So begins a live performance by Shirley Bassey and by the time it's over both star and audience have been involved in more than a show; they have been involved in an experience: The star, because she has again presented tangible proof of her greatness ... she has drawn from the deepest recesses of her ability to do more than entertain; she has actually lived her songs ... the audience because they were the recipients of all this emotion and were given a rare opportunity to look into someone's soul.

The reasons for Shirley Bassey's ability to convey so much feeling to an audience are as varied and complex as the woman herself. She has, of course, had the practical experience that is essential to a great performer. Starting with club dates in her native Wales, Shirley eventually worked her way to England, Australia and America stopping shows all along the route. The scenes of her triumphs included the London Palladium, the Astor Club in London's equivalent of Broadway; the West End and the top niteries in New York, Las Vegas and Hollywood.

But most reasonably accomplished performers can stand before a group of people and entertain, what sets Shirley Bassey so far above them? It is her ability to relate to people, pure and simple.

When Shirley sings this album's title song you know this is her life. - When she sings of love, she is in love. - When she belts out an upbeat number, she is happy and anyone within hearing range runs the gamut of emotions with her.

Shirley Bassey is one of the finest performers to electrify an audience in many years and she keeps getting better. So listen, and you'll know it's beautiful and true when Shirley Bassey says: THIS IS MY LIFE.
 

Review
 By Joe Viglione, All Music Guide

Not to be confused with the 2000/2001 Music International best-of compilation which utilizes the same title and features that tune along with other Bassey favourites, this is the 12-song 1968 release from a day when all these performances by the authoritative singer were kept under the three-minute mark. The end melody of the Lesley Bricusse/Anthony Newley tune "The Joker" from the musical production of The Roar of the Greasepaint is right out of the "he loves gold" ending from "Goldfinger," and putting it next to Batman composer Neal Hefti's "I Must Know" is pretty clever - from the Joker to Batman's Hefti co-write. "I Must Know" is a swinging bossa nova which Eydie Gorme could have dueted on nicely here, and the Sid Feller arrangements embellish Dave Pell's first-rate production, work which gives Bassey's fantastic voice a dynamic platform - one that doesn't interfere with her passionate expression.

"This Is My Life (La Vita)" is over the top, a performance which should have been huge on America's radios. That 1965's "Goldfinger" was her only chart hit in the states is more of a statement on how unfair Top 40 was (and has always been). Shirley Bassey is no one-hit wonder; her movie soundtracks took care of that and delivered her voice to millions when transistors refused to. Tony Hatch's Top 25 chart song for Petula Clark, "Who Am I," is covered so faithfully you'd think Hatch had produced this version, and the pop sounds are a nice change of pace from the show tune presentation of "Funny Girl." Putting the theme from that motion picture next to a driving version of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" works as smoothly as "The Joker" next to "I Must Know" - though she gives Hebb's classic the powerful hold-the-last-note move that made "Goldfinger" so much fun.

When Bassey's not making a statement like "I Must Know" or "This Is My Life," there are questioning tunes - "Where Is Tomorrow?" or "Who Am I?"; the expressionist may be singing material written by other people, but the way she spins them across her album is the real magic she couples with her voice and spirit. When Janis Joplin put her soul on the grooves of a record, she spoke in a language that went beyond the words. Shirley Bassey does that here on This Is My Life, an album that speaks on many levels. Let there be no doubt this is a great album from one of the greats.

Review text © All Music Guide
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